1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to archery and gunnery training devices. More particularly, and not by way of limitation, the present invention is directed to a training device and method for training an archer or gunner to shoot with improved accuracy.
2. Description of Related Art
Over the years, many advances have been made in the sport of archery to improve accuracy. Improvements in bow design, the addition of sights, and the use of release mechanisms to release the bow string have all contributed to greater accuracy. For example, the bow has evolved from the long bow to the compound bow. The compound bow uses a cam to increase arrow speed and improve accuracy. Sights and/or scopes are mounted on bows, and may have a plurality of sight pins that are adjustable for different target distances. Release mechanisms assist the archer by enabling the archer to release the bow string with a trigger device. Releasing a bow string with fingers increases string oscillation, thereby reducing accuracy. Release mechanisms reduce string oscillation, with a resultant increase in accuracy.
Despite the technical improvements in archery equipment described above, accuracy is still limited by the human operator. One limitation is known as “target panic”. All shooters (archers and gunners) experience target panic to some degree. This is a condition at the moment of shooting a bow or firing a gun when, having made the decision to release the bow string or press the trigger, the shooter's mind freezes and no longer makes corrections if the sight drifts off the target. For example, with a fully drawn bow, if the pin in the sight drifts off the target, the archer's mind does not recognize the error, and no correction is made.
Target panic is an unconscious condition which often goes undiagnosed as the source of a shooter's accuracy problem because the shooter is not aware that it is happening. It is thought that target panic occurs because the mind is overloaded, and cannot simultaneously perform another task. In archery, for example, archers are simultaneously performing the tasks of holding back the bow string, making corrections to hold the bow vertical, judging the wind, judging the distance to the target, selecting a sight pin appropriate for the distance, and moving the bow to optically align the selected sight pin with the target. Competition archers use from 9 to 15 steps to complete a shot. When the additional mental task of deciding to shoot is added, or if a thought enters the mind raising a fear about the accuracy of the coming shot, the mind overloads and stops making corrections. This causes the archer to squeeze the release mechanism when the sight pin is not aligned with the target.
An existing method of overcoming target panic is to train a shooter to squeeze the release mechanism or trigger so slowly that the shooter himself is surprised when the weapon fires. The reasoning is that the shooter's mind will continue to make corrections up until the moment of shooting since a mental decision to fire is never made. However, this technique presumes that the shooter's mind is not already overloaded from other tasks, and that it is the decision to shoot that causes the overload and the target panic. This may not be the case. In addition, this technique has several other disadvantages. First, being uncertain when the weapon is going to fire may be uncomfortable for many shooters. Second, since an archer must maintain considerable force to hold back the bow string, his shot may get less accurate if this position must be held for a longer period of time. The same is true for a gunner if he is shooting a fairly heavy rifle or pistol. Third, archers and gunners engaged in shooting competitions may have to shoot rapidly, and it is not realistic to squeeze the release mechanism or trigger so slowly that the shooter is surprised when the weapon fires.
Thus, in order to overcome the disadvantage of existing solutions, it would be advantageous to have a training device and method for training an archer or gunner to overcome the mental problem of target panic that effectively eliminates the problem of target panic regardless of other tasks being performed. The present invention provides such a device and method.